The project for the elaboration of physical water balances at sub-catchment level with monthly resolution, for developing water accounts based on UN SEEA-W methodology, came to an end.

This project was carried out by Pöyry for DG Environment with technical support from the European Environmental Agency. The project demonstrates the benefits of building a consistent framework for physical water accounts at EU level with a high degree of geographical, temporal and sectoral accuracy, for the consistency of data collection , the development of water accounting methodologies and the assessment of water balance and water efficiency. This will allow the setting up of a new Water Exploitation Index (WEI+), as agreed by the Water Directors at the above-mentioned meeting, and the improvement of water resource indicators.

The data collection and calculation was carried out in coordination with the collection of water quantity data by EEA. The water use data reported at EU level via various reporting streams can be reviewed and compared in WISE.

However, the project also highlights important gaps in the availability of key data and confirms the need to design a more cost-effective process for reporting as well as the need for statistics for the assessment of quantitative water resources. In addition, it demonstrates the need for further interaction between modelled and reported data.